Happened to be driving along with the family when I noticed this Taxus pulled out of the ground laying in a front yard. Looked promising, pulled over, asked the owner and they were happy to be rid of it.

Brought it back, cleared out the garden soil, potted in pure turface and its already pushing new buds inside a week. Not too surprising because it had a pretty large root ball with a mess of fine feeder roots.

I'll leave it be for at least this season, probably next as well before I do anything further.

That said, I always like to plan and this one seems to have two options:

(1) Bend the long leader (I've tested it a bit with a branch bender and it will extend vertically) upward making it an informal upright; or

(2) a semi cascade by taking the present leader (there's also a second thinner and easier bending branch that runs parallel to it) and bending it upward, then taking one of the three branches located in the inside of the first curve and bending them downward.

I suppose I could do something slanting as well.

Also, the exposed nebari has a few crossing roots that will need to go, but the nebari below the soil line is nearly perfectly radial. Pretty nice stuff. I buried it to hopefully developed roots closer into the trunk line allowing me to safely remove the crossing roots and shorten the longer subsurface roots. The base is 4 to 5 inches across.

The main trunk line has an extensive broken up line of exposed shari and natural jin as well. The shari line has some well developed scarring along the edges as well.

Nice find. Do you know how long it had been out of the ground? "Evergreens" can "live" a long time on stored energy -- witness all the thrown away but still green Christmas trees months after Christmas.,

_________________Jim Lewis - lewisjk@windstream.net - Western NC - People, when Columbus discovered this country, it was plumb full of nuts and berries. And I'm right here to tell you the berries are just about all gone. Uncle Dave Macon, old-time country musician

That's a pretty nice score you have there! Here's what I see for a start. The blue line shows your focal point, assuming this is your chosen front. From the other images you've shown, it's safe to cut back to the area shown now. Yes are prolific for backbudding. It's a good idea to do this now, so the tree isn't wasting growth and energy beyond this point. I never bare root freshly collected yews. As for putting in pure turface, it holds alot of moisture. Water sparingly to prevent root rot and encourage the tree to produce more. Make sure to mist often. I think it's a good idea to place the tree in the shade and out of the wind. maybe spray the foliage with an anti-dessicant like Wilt-Pruf (just a thought). With something this size, it's a good idea to spend the next couple of years growing new branches instead of using the existing ones. They are too thick. You can jin and carve those.

I share your concerns. It was torn out two days before I picked it up during a water line installation. The day after it was removed it rained all day. The root ball was very large and still pretty wet when I found it. There are plenty of live feeder roots though so we'll see.

Folks describe parts of bonsai differently. Understanding your meaning of a "5 inch" base is important to gauge the future of this tree. Do you refer to the trunk diameter above the crossover roots, or do you include the flairing section? When John Naka wrote of a bonsai trunk's "base" for considering the height of a bonsai pot, he was referring to the diameter of trunk above the root flair, but a bonsai "base" is often referenced in-size on bonsai forums as girth where a tree's roots are exposed above the soil.

For bonsai, the plant is in growth (rather than foliage placement & refinement) mode. You are going to want foliage to pull strength for awhile. I'd be concerned with health first. Next, I would focus on rootage, which exaggerates as a problem over time.

If choosing among crossover roots, early, the wound will heal with little notice where it is separated. Curing crossover girdling which has already occurred might require considerable growing-out (preferably field growing), but it is well worth the effort. When crossover or trunk-circling roots continue growing, they scar across the root flair and impede it. The exposed roots add to (or distract from) visual flow of the bonsai, so you need a plan. Be sure your yew is supporting healthy budding.

Work in stages rather than solving every concern immediately. Most work at this stage should be in planning rather than immediate execution.

Very best wishes on your new project... :-)

Last edited by Chris Cochrane on Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:17 pm; edited 2 times in total

I have a couple of grow beds I thought about healing it into, but I also have my house up for sale and I though I might as well just clean it and plant it in a box I can move. Plus, yew have such dense feeder roots around the trunk base so I'm not that concerned.

I was referring to the trunk width at the soil line right below the cross over roots. There is a better developed nebari below the soil line that tapers out a little bit more.

I understand it's feed, water and leave alone for now. That said, most of the fun is in the planning.

Plus, I almost cut the long trunk off, but hesitated because I wasn't sure if I'd end up wanting it. If go for an informal upright, I need some part of it, it go for a cascade, I don't need most of it. And if I go for Pete's suggestion most of it is coming off.

Hi Michael... I had a Scots pine with ~2.5" base several years ago with similar root crossing. It was root-bound in its original nursery container. I was too ashamed of the plant to ask a fellow bonsai enthusiast to maintain it for me while I was away for 12 months. I did ask him to watch over two others purchased at the same time & planted the lesser plant (because of tangled structural roots) in the ground. I took some care it fanning-out the roots & cutting offending roots.